News from the Members
07.05.2017
A visit to Chemnitz over the Easter Weekend
We had to be courageous to go to the Chemnitz Easter Wagner Festival, which took place in the heart of Saxony, with very few attractive touristic spots in that area!!
Nonetheless, nine Wagnerians from the Toulouse Wagner Society attended this festival, with deep emotion. On Good Friday a sublime Parsifal took place, with voices worthy of first-class opera houses, followed by an equally excellent Tannhäuser. Despite the reduced size of the orchestra, the sound was just great and the conductor Felix Bender was received with acclaim.
The productions were of a high standard and were colorful, while we will remember for a long time singers such as Victor Antipenko, Morenike Fadayomi, Bri-Tone Mullertz and Martin Iliev.
We were less enthusiastic about Die Meistersinger as the voices were of a mediocre quality, and the decor and old-fashioned costumes were frankly a little boring. We were fortunate to meet the young Artistic Director of the Chemnitz Theatre, Patrick Wurzel and thanked him profusely offering us a festival of such high quality. He invited us to come again next year ,as they will be staging a Ring!
While there, we also met our friends Henri and Chantal Perrier from the Lyon Society.
We continued with our journey, through snow storms in Meissen and Moritzburg, and then spent the three following days in the splendid town of Dresden, culminating in a Mozart evening at the Semperoper.
Nonetheless, nine Wagnerians from the Toulouse Wagner Society attended this festival, with deep emotion. On Good Friday a sublime Parsifal took place, with voices worthy of first-class opera houses, followed by an equally excellent Tannhäuser. Despite the reduced size of the orchestra, the sound was just great and the conductor Felix Bender was received with acclaim.
The productions were of a high standard and were colorful, while we will remember for a long time singers such as Victor Antipenko, Morenike Fadayomi, Bri-Tone Mullertz and Martin Iliev.
We were less enthusiastic about Die Meistersinger as the voices were of a mediocre quality, and the decor and old-fashioned costumes were frankly a little boring. We were fortunate to meet the young Artistic Director of the Chemnitz Theatre, Patrick Wurzel and thanked him profusely offering us a festival of such high quality. He invited us to come again next year ,as they will be staging a Ring!
While there, we also met our friends Henri and Chantal Perrier from the Lyon Society.
We continued with our journey, through snow storms in Meissen and Moritzburg, and then spent the three following days in the splendid town of Dresden, culminating in a Mozart evening at the Semperoper.